Facing Pages

By Armen Davoudian

For Dick Davis, who translated “Layli and Majnun” into English

Reading a parallel-text tragedy,
Persian and English on opposite sides
like lovers whom an ancient grudge divides,
I think of gentle Mr. Javadi
copying the cloudy verses out in white
as I followed with blue meanings where he led
and we alternated, trying to keep straight,
until the board looked like the striped bedspread

I sweated my pent-up love out on each night,
then lay there with my hands unwashed and read
the story of Majnun’s forbidden love
which sent him roaming deserts in search of
the sweet beloved he would never reach.
When I close the book, two tongues touch.

Source: Poetry (April 2022)